


Eye of the Beholder

by randomwriter57



Series: Sormik Week 2018 [4]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Glasses, M/M, Pre-Relationship, there's a time skip between scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 22:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15694980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomwriter57/pseuds/randomwriter57
Summary: Mikleo dreaded going to the optician's.





	Eye of the Beholder

**Author's Note:**

> writers take inspiration from all walks of life. i had my eyes tested recently.  
> enjoy!
> 
> Written for [Sormik Week 2018](http://sormikweek.tumblr.com), day four: Insecurity/Confidence (Clouds).

Mikleo dreaded going to the optician’s.

It wasn’t so much that he feared it. He’d always been fine at the dentist’s office, so he didn’t see how getting his eyes checked would be much different. His reluctance came more from the knowledge that he might have to get glasses.

Now, don’t get Mikleo wrong, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with glasses. It was just that none of the other kids in his year wore them, and there was something irksome about being the odd one out. He and his best friend Sorey were already out of place, being bookworms from a young age. At age eight, nothing seemed worse than giving his classmates fodder to tease him with.

And yet, it seemed there was no way of getting out of an eye appointment.

A week before that fateful day, he and Sorey had been at school as usual. Their classmates and the kids from other years filled the playground, yelling and laughing as they rushed around the grass, kicking footballs and playing tag. He and Sorey had planned on spending today’s break-time playing pretend near the top of the playground, where a toppled tree trunk served as a good base of operations.

One second, they were on their way there, arguing over their games - Sorey wanted to be the Shepherd as usual, but Mikleo didn’t want to be stuck playing the evil hellion again.

The next thing he knew, Sorey was on the ground. A ball bounced away, followed by a younger kid who only threw a short apology in their direction.

They spent their break in the nurse’s office, with Sorey holding an ice pack to his face as Mikleo sat beside him, his chest still tight.

“Didn’t you see it coming?” Mikleo asked.

Sorey looked down, clutching the ice pack a little tighter. “I didn’t.”

When Sorey’s mum arrived, the nurse recommended she book an optician’s appointment for him. And Mikleo being Mikleo, not wanting Sorey to have to go through this by himself, he asked if he could go with Sorey.

Thus, their mothers booked appointments on the same day for them, and that’s how they ended up here.

The optician’s was a small establishment on the main street of their hometown. Though the interior was recently designed, it was attached to an older building, one of the many which lined the street, dating back centuries. Due to it being an old building, it loomed over them as they approached, casting a shadow over the street.

The interior felt space-age when compared to the exterior. It was clean and refined, filled with new technology the likes of which could scarcely have been imagined when the building was first made. They were greeted by a cheerful woman behind a desk, who chatted happily with their mothers as she clicked away on a computer at the front desk. There were a couple of desks a little further into the shop, one of which held a man having a pair of glasses fitted by another sales assistant. Other than a few chairs for the waiting customers, the only furniture Mikleo could see were the glass shelves lining the walls to his left and right. Glasses sat on every layer; round ones, square ones, frameless ones, sunglasses - all kinds of frames watched his every move, waiting for him to pick them up.

Beside him, Sorey shrank a little, his eyes following the glasses warily.

Mikleo squeezed his hand, forcing himself to be strong for his friend. Sorey squeezed back, his shoulders relaxing at the motion.

“Now, you must be Sorey and Mikleo?”

They looked up to see the woman from behind the counter kneeling in front of them. She looked kind enough, with an old, lined face and a pare of wire-rimmed glasses atop her nose.

Sorey’s grip on Mikleo’s hand got a little tighter.

“Can we go in together?” Mikleo asked, forcing his voice out of his throat. He didn’t want to leave Sorey alone, not when he was this scared.

The lady smiled at them. “Of course. Don’t worry, I won’t separate you. Now, are you okay to come through to the examination room?”

Mikleo exchanged a glance with Sorey. His face relaxed at the knowledge that they could stay together, and he gave Mikleo a nod of affirmation. Taking that as his answer, Mikleo turned back to the lady.

“Okay.”

 

* * *

 

“Sorey, have you seen my glasses?”

Mikleo waits a moment to hear a response, surveying the damage around him. The bedroom of his flat is far messier than he usually lets it get, with items from his drawers and desk strewn all over every available surface. The bed hasn’t been made yet, its clothes thrown open in the rush to get up with his alarm.

A head of brown hair pokes around the door from the en-suite bathroom. Sorey’s eyebrows furrow over the rim of his own glasses. “No? Didn’t you put them in your glasses case last night?”

“I don’t think so?” Mikleo says, pushing a hand through his hair. “I don’t remember taking them off last night. They’re not in the bathroom, are they?”

“Can’t see ‘em in here,” he says, not bothering to check again. Instead he comes out of the bathroom, heading over to Mikleo’s side. “It’s not like you need them to see. Can’t you go without them?”

“It feels weird not wearing them,” Mikleo says, glancing around himself once more. “Speaking of wearing glasses, though, you’re not putting in contacts today?”

“Nah, I wanted to give my eyes a rest.”

Sorey’s glasses are a pretty rare sight, but Mikleo can’t say he doesn’t like them. The rectangular frames suit his facial shape, and dark green has always been a nice colour on him.

“They suit you,” Mikleo says, reaching out to flick the bridge of them. Sorey flinches at the contact. “Like lipstick on a pig.”

“Hey!” Sorey pouts at him. “You helped me choose them.”

“And you helped me choose mine,” Mikleo says, moving past Sorey to get into the bathroom. Sure enough, the sides are entirely vacant of the missing glasses. “Are you sure you haven’t seen them?”

Sorey follows him into the bathroom, leaning his chin on Mikleo's shoulder as they stand by the sink. “Why don’t you just not wear them today? You look good without them.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere if I find out you hid them just so you could see me without them,” Mikleo warns, though he leans into Sorey’s touch. “Besides, I only got them because of you in the first place.”

A smile crosses Sorey’s lips. “Yeah. You didn’t want me to feel so alone when I had to get glasses, so you got a pair without a prescription.”

“And then I got used to them,” Mikleo says. “I guess I was insecure for nothing.”

“You shouldn’t need to feel insecure.” Sorey presses his lips to Mikleo’s neck, lazily kissing the skin beneath his ear. “You’re beautiful no matter what.”

Mikleo hums, enjoying the contact. “So you did hide my glasses.”

Sorey pulls back. “I didn’t! As tempted as I am…”

With the warmth gone, Mikleo remembers their responsibilities and moves out of Sorey’s hold. “Come on, the others will be here soon. I need to finish getting ready.”

“Okay.”

Sorey gives Mikleo one last kiss on the lips for good measure, his glasses bumping against Mikleo’s eyebrows as he does, before he heads off to the living room of Mikleo’s flat.

His heart flutters happily as he pushes his hair out of his face, smiling at his reflection. At least now, he and Sorey can both feel confident, with or without their glasses on.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me [@luzrofrulay](http://twitter.com/luzrofrulay) on twitter / [@luzrof-rulay](http://luzrof-rulay.tumblr.com) on tumblr for more Tales Of ramblings | [@randomactuallywrites-57](http://randomactuallywrites-57.tumblr.com) on tumblr for more writing!


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